Goodbye desert, hello Sierra-Nevada!
We knew we would take it easy today as we only had 5.3 miles to town. The five of us slept until our internal clocks woke us up. For me, it was 5:30am…so I went back to sleep until I couldn’t sleep anymore at 6:30am. Boostie slept until 7:30, Frodo and the Aussies slept until 8:30. At 8 in the morning I felt anxious, so I started walking.
View from the Kern River.
I walked only 0.8 of a mile before dropping my stuff, stripping down to my underwear, and wading into the Kern River. Everyone else finally caught up and we had a beach day. The water made my legs numb, but it was still refreshing. We all immersed our entire bodies in a sort of cold plunge, which felt great once we dried off in the sun.
Dry in the sun.
After walking the last few miles into town, we arrived at Kennedy Meadows General Store, where we were greeted with boos, shouts, and a cowbell. We finally made it out of the desert section of the PCT! While I honestly enjoyed the desert, I’m looking forward to the Sierra Nevada. The change of scenery will surely be nice and definitely a little cooler. Also, more water fountains? I’m sold.
700 miles!!
Boostie and I sent our bear canisters to the general store. Yours is new, having upgraded to the BV500 from the BV475. I decided the BV475 would be enough for me, so I’m using the same one I used on the AT in 2024. It looks used and abused, but hey, it’s a can of bear with character and charm.
A few of us took the last shuttle to Grumpy Bear’s for the night, hoping to find a way back when we were ready. At Grumpy Bear’s we had beer and I ordered a Hawaiian pizza. I ate the pizza when we got back to the general store, but I could only eat half, so Boostie finished it for me!
Rawhide finally joined us tonight, and it’s been wonderful to have most of the tram back together! PB is still ahead, but we hope to catch up soon. At the end of the day, some of the kids chose the movie Airplane! since 1980 to view on the projector screen outside the store. I expected to hate it, but it actually made me laugh several times. I think I might have been the only woman watching, because there were a couple of scenes where I laughed out loud, but the jokes were gynecological and I don’t think the men noticed. It was definitely a movie full of slapstick and cheap jokes… but I guess that’s my sense of humor.
Plane!
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